Graphical processing units (GPUs) are primarily used to perform graphics rendering. Graphics rendering requires massive amounts of computation, especially in shader programs that are run while rendering. This computation requires a very large percentage of the power consumed by GPUs, and thus electronic devices that employ GPUs. In mobile electronic devices, processing power of GPUs, memory and power supplied by battery is limited due to the form factor and mobility of the electronic device.
Tile-based architecture has become popular in mobile GPUs due to its power efficiency advantages, in particular in reducing costly dynamic random access memory (DRAM) traffic. Advanced mobile GPU architectures may employ deferred rendering techniques to further improve power efficiency. Conventional techniques have a fixed configuration and cannot achieve the best efficiency in all situations since they cannot adapt to workload changes nor be optimized dynamically.